Cambridge Rindge and Latin School sent eight athletes to the New Balance National Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from June 18-21. The Falcons competed against the best high school track and field programs in the country across three events.
Senior Sophia Juanes Seto headlined the trip as CRLS’s sole individual competitor. A Cornell University commit and multiple-time all-state competitor in the two-mile, Juanes Seto is one of the most decorated distance runners in CRLS history. She capped her senior season with two top-three finishes in the mile and two-mile at the MIAA Division 1 Track and Field Championships. It was her fourth career trip to the national meet, a distinction men’s head coach and women’s assistant coach said no other CRLS track and field athlete has achieved. Two years ago, she earned All-American honors as part of a CRLS girls 4×1-mile relay that finished third in the country
After a demanding senior season competing at the highest level, she finished 41st in the two-mile at Nationals with a time of 10:43.91, short of what she was aiming for.
“The outcome is not what you expected,” Prince said. “But she understood she belonged there, and that was the key.”
The girls’ distance medley relay team, where runners race 400m, 800m, 1,200m and 1,600m, also competed in the championship division, finishing 23rd with a time of 12:16.35. Prince put together a squad that had proven itself all season, describing it as “a combination of some of our more exceptional girls.” Neva Hartman, who placed seventh individually in the 800-meter run at the MIAA Division 1 state championships, led off for the Falcons at 400m. Sloane Judson ran the 800m leg and Stella Van Praagh followed at 1,200m before Juanes Seto anchored the relay against some of the top programs in the nation. Juanes Seto is the only senior on the squad.
On the boys side, the 4×1-mile relay team made program history by qualifying for the championship division. It was the first time a CRLS boys squad had ever competed in that event at Nationals. Kieran Eilcher, Gael Berzin, Ben Richards and Leon Ibanez-Fraile finished 23rd with a time of 18:22.89. Ibanez-Fraile, a junior who finished in the top 15 in both the mile and two-mile at the MIAA Meet of Champions this spring, anchored a relay group that Prince said had the talent to contend for All-American honors, which go to the top six finishers.
On paper, “they should have been the sixth-place team,” he said. “You can bring paper, but you’ve still got to do the job.”
Prince, who has coached at CRLS since 1995 and was one of the most-decorated runners in school history, said the experience of competing at that level for the first time was invaluable. The entire relay group returns next season, and the team was talking about coming back stronger before the meet was even over.
“Lessons learned sometimes from failure,” Prince said. “There’s success there, they made it. So we’ll leave with that. Prepare for next time. That’s all.”
With nearly the full roster returning and a senior class that set the bar high on its way out, Prince is not hiding what he expects next year.
“The expectations are going to be higher next year for outcomes, but we’ll get them there,” he said. “Be ready.”
A stronger
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